DIRECTOR of cricket Steve Rhodes has warned his players to be ready to face a “wounded animal” at Glamorgan tomorrow (11am).

Worcestershire are searching for their first win in Specsavers County Championship Division Two this season after three successive draws, including a complete wash-out in the opening game with Kent.

Rhodes believes his side are “getting nearer” to clinching victory after posting big scores against Essex and Gloucestershire.

But bottom club Glamorgan are also determined to kickstart their season having lost two of their first three matches and Rhodes reckons their opponents could come out fighting at the SSE Swalec Stadium in Cardiff.

“Glamorgan could either be a wounded animal and fight back strongly in this game or they might not be feeling too good about themselves and we could come away with a win,” Rhodes said.

“In sport, teams go through good phases and not so good phases but it is only early in the season and I do not think Glamorgan would be panicking at this stage.

“They haven’t started as well as they could have done but there is a lot of teams who can beat each other in the division.

“They could come out hard or be a little bit down in the dumps and we could get on top of them but we are looking forward to going there and trying to get the points.”

Gloucestershire and Essex have put Worcestershire on the back foot in their last two games, racking up first-innings scores of 380 and 451 respectively.

But Rhodes insisted their start to matches was not an area of concern and instead praised the way his players responded with Brett D’Oliveira and Tom Kohler-Cadmore hitting centuries in the last match.

“When teams get big scores against you, it is easy to crumble a little bit but we haven’t done that,” he said.

“We have shown some really good resilience in bouncing back from the totals the opposition have posted and have shown we can bat ourselves.

“So it is just a matter of time when our bowlers take wickets and, as long as we carry on making runs, we will be in a strong position.”

Rhodes, who is expected to name an unchanged side, added: “We have played in some high-scoring games in the two matches we have been able to get on and are hopeful that form continues with our batters, we can take those 20 wickets and get some points on the table.

“We got maximum bonus points down at Bristol and were one off here at top-of-the-table Essex, so that tells you we are getting nearer (to winning).”

Worcestershire (from): Mitchell, D’Oliveira, Moeen, Clarke, Kohler-Cadmore, Whiteley, Cox, Leach, Barnard, Henry, Shantry, Morris.